The B Team

Ghost Lad had agreed to scout out the North Coast Guardians' HQ for the Scrap Pile, partly because he was still hoping for an opportunity to meet Disco. Although he knew he could get in without being seen or even having to open a door, he still wanted some backup, so he contacted The Comet, a young crime-fighter who had recently taken up the mantle of the original Comet, one of the first known super-heroes.

He also brought in some less wholesome allies, hoping that perhaps they would have useful connections. Grave Bear had once been an up-and-coming stand-up comic who went to a lot of the same parties as Ghost Lad, but he was now a humorless undead man-beast. The two now shared a strange "ghost link" which sometimes enabled them to communicate telepathically. Pork Chop, on the other hand, was a former associate of The Angry Beet who was now trying to clean up his act.

The four of them decided to get some fake IDs so that Ghost Lad could have plenty of nearby support while he scouted the area. To this end, Pork Chop and Grave Bear went over to the Lightfoot Island docks to talk to Zombie Lizard Moll. While they were doing that, however, Ghost Lad and Comet decided to go have a quick look-around anyway.

The Interlocking Technologies lab that supported the North Coast Guardians was across town, in one wing of what used to be a hospital. Ghost Lad got them in and found a lab coat for Comet easily enough, but it wasn't long before a member of the fairly small staff noticed an unfamiliar face and referred him to "HR" in Beta City proper.

Ghost Lad, meanwhile, found a mysterious locked elevator at the end of the hallway. Upon attempting to phase in, he was repulsed by a force field. Not to be dissuaded, he gave it another go and pushed through. Down the elevator shaft, Ghost Lad found a large underground chamber with a smaller central dome surrounded by hibernation capsules. Creepy human-sized ant-cyborgs were crawling all over everything.

Ghost Lad took pictures of the facility but, to do so, he had to briefly become visible. One of the antrons saw him and fired off a shot with some kind of bee gun. Alarms went off. Upstairs, Comet was attacked by Jellyfish, Blue Shift, and several decimators and psybots.

Back on Lightfoot Island, Grave Bear and Pork Chop caught up with Firetemple (one of the Lizard Moll's super-powered enforcers) and made their case to the Lizard Moll. She was no fan of the North Coast Guardians and agreed to have some badges customized for the B Team. This wouldn't take long, because much of the work had already been done for some reason. Grave Bear sent out a ghost-brain message to Ghost Lad and discovered that he and Comet were under attack at the lab.

Comet and Ghost Lad were holding their own, although Comet's defensive "blast field" was being gradually weakened by the decimator's null ray. Pork Chop and Grave Bear rushed to the rescue in their freshly-rented car and everybody slugged it out. Then a whole mob of fresh "Ultra" agents stormed in from nowhere and the group decided it was time to run away.

They decided that, before they took what they had to the Scrap Pile, they needed a hacker to get into I.T.'s computers and find out more about what they had seen. Another trip to the Lizard Moll's den seemed in order.

This time, the Lizard Moll wanted something in exchange for her help. Her ex and mob rival, Joe Cassanelli (AKA NecroDon) had set up a warehouse in her territory. She wanted our heroes to burn it down.

They said okey-dokey to this, and, after a bit of ghostly scouting, they proceeded to trash the place. It was defended by some goons with guns and a large, undead Liberace. There was also a crazy-looking mad scientist guy with a shrink ray. Giant-sized Grave Bear punted Liberace into the harbor, and Comet took out Downsizer after Grave Bear took a few shrinks.

The Lizard Moll was satisfied with their work and hooked them up with one of her hackers.